| The Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union is contending that the Guyana Sugar Corporation can meet the wage claim by the union,Cheap Wholesale Jerseys, given the dynamic international market for sugar and expansive revenue-generating initiatives.This argument was put forward on Saturday to the arbitration tribunal set up to deal with the wages and salaries dispute between and Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) and GAWU.GAWU is seeking a pay increase of 14.25 percent in light of the rising cost of living.However, the sugar company says that it can offer only a 5.25 percent increase for the year.Dr. Roodal Moonilal, Industrial Relations Consultant/Development Analyst from Trinidad and Tobago, who is representing the union, said that the Corporation has been mismanaging its assets, implementing poor labour organization and utilisation systems, and engaging in significant wastage of resources.Had these not been occurring, Moonilal said, the sugar company would have resulted in significant savings to the Corporation.The consultant also pointed out to the tribunal that the sugar workers cannot maintain a decent standard of living should the wage demand not be awarded, and as a consequence, the industry would suffer significantly from a dwindling labour pool.He recounted that at the last arbitration proceedings in 2002,Cheap Jerseys Outlet, GuySuCo portrayed itself as a company on the brink of collapse, claiming that it was unable to afford the increase demanded by the union, lest the industry became bankrupt.Dr. Moonilal drew to the tribunal’s attention that this year,Jerseys NFL Cheap, as in 2002, the Corporation’s principal argument is its inability to pay.He argued that inability to pay should not be an acceptable reason not to satisfy the union’s claim.Additionally, he said, there is precedent, whereby the Industrial Court of Trinidad and Tobago disagreed with the argument that inability to pay is a justifiable reason to refute a wage demand.He said that the mismanagement by the corporation had led to the current state of the corporation’s poor production level, hence a great restriction on its revenues.Dr. Moonilal emphasised the impact of rising cost of living on the workers, and made reference to the rate of inflation as published by the Bureau of Statistics and the effects this has had on the welfare of the workers and their families.On the other hand, the sugar company stated that the corporation’s offer is $746M, while the value of the union’s demand is valued at $2024.9 M. This represents more than one billion dollars over and above what the corporation is offering.The company argued that it does not have the money to fund the union’s demand.In its written submissions to the tribunal, the company stated that it is no secret that the corporation is experiencing and will continue to experience a tremendous loss in revenue as a consequence of the draconian price cut being imposed by the European Union (EU),Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale, its main customer.The aggregate price cut phased over a four-year period (2006 –2009) is 36.1 percent,Wholesale Jerseys Cheap, which will see the price of sugar move from US$759 per tonne to US$486 per tonne by 2009.At last Saturday’s session, which was hosted at the Cheddi Jagan Research Centre,Cheap NFL Jerseys, both the corporation and the union made substantial opening presentations.The union’s team at the session comprised 52 persons,Cheap Jerseys Wholesale, with representatives from the eight sugar estates. The submissions will continue on October 18. Written arguments have since been submitted to the arbitration tribunal. Representatives from the sugar company and the union documented their arguments on the issue and submitted a copy to each tribunal member.The tribunal team is led by Deputy Governor of the Bank of Guyana, Dr Gobind Ganga.Other members of the team are attorney-at-law Cecil Seepersaud and Major General (ret’d) Norman McLean.Soured wage negotiations between the company and GAWU resulted in workers taking industrial action which lasted for almost four weeks.The arbitration tribunal was commissioned on August 29 last to deal with the wages dispute.Both sides will be bound by the decision of the arbitration panel. |
